With
the “Baby Bombers” now part of the scene, with
the Yankee future becoming brighter and brighter, with all the renewed
interest
in the franchise, herewith for your reading pleasure and edification
some
interesting sidebars that are part of the franchise history

Yankees

A
reference with the name "Yankees” first
appeared in print in the Boston Herald
in 1904. It referred to the American League baseball team in New York
City.SportswritersSam
Crane of the New York Journal and
Mark Roth of the New York Globe, are
credited with first using the name "Yankees" in their writing about
the team.

Logo

The iconic “bat in the
hat” logo was introduced in 1947. It
has been the Yankees' primary logo ever since. The artwork was
originally
credited to Henry Alonzo Keller, a sports illustrator who worked in New
York.
However, the New York Timesreported in 2009 that the logo
could have other origins.

According to the family of
Sam Friedman, an artist who worked
at the “21” club in the 1940s and ’50s, it was their ancestor who
sketched the
logo onto a bar napkin for Yankee owner Dan
Topping, a regular “21” patron. The Yankee
boss man allegedly immediately decided that would be the new logo for
his team.
That Yankee logo is the oldest still in use in the major leagues.

Shame

Negro League teams who
played at the
Stadium when the Yankees were on the road were not allowed to use their
dressing rooms. Instead they were obliged to use the visitors’ dressing
room.

Unlikely
Friendship

PitcherHerb
Pennock was born
to a wealthy Pennsylvania family and graduated from elite prep schools.
Babe
Ruth
was raised in an orphanage. Pennock was
refined, dignified, sophisticated. The great Ruth was the opposite of
Pennock.
Nevertheless, they were friends for almost three decades. The
friendship began
when both were young lefty hurlers for the Boston
Red Sox
in 1916.The unusual friendship continued
when they were teammates on the Yankees in the 1920s
and 1930s.

FIGHT SONG

The
official fight song for the Yankees "Here
Come the Yankees,"
was written in 1967 by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman. Not used as too
often now
at Yankee Stadium, it is still frequently played in instrumental form,
most
times in radio broadcasts.

Monuments

The
first monument honoring a
Yankee legend was created in 1932 for Miller Huggins. Monuments and
plaques
were located in centerfield in front of the fence as part of the
playing field
about 450 feet or so from home plate. Outfielders always had to be wary
running
back for long fly balls. At one time ticket holders exited through the
centerfield gates viewing monuments on their way out of the Stadium.
The
monuments were on the field, in front of the fence.Starting in 1976, the monuments and plaques
were behind the fence in Monument Park.

YANK Newsletter

Created by Larry MacPhail, YANK
Newsletter was first published in 1946 and had a long run. It was
published about 6 times a year. Its final season was 1967 when it
was
published in a newspaper format.

Travel
by Airplane

In 1946, the Yankees became the first team to
regularly travel by airplane. The team leased a United Airlines
plane
nicknamed the "Yankee Mainliner.” Despite the advantages of flying,
four
players, including Red Ruffing, still chose to take the train.

Mascot

The
Yankees are one
of four teams today lacking a mascot. From 1982
until 1985, the team mascot was Dandy, a pinstriped bird.That did not work out.

Elaine’s

George
Steinbrenner liked to dine at Elaine's
on Second Avenue in Manhattan. With his team at home, he would often
partake of
an early supper.

One
of the most prolific and
respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States,
author
of the autobiographies of legends Nolan Ryan,, Tony Dorsett, and Red
Holzman,
Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has
arguably
written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than
anyone.
In 2010, he was honored by the City of New York to serve as historical
consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage Field

A
professor for
more than two decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, Frommer
was
dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine. He’s also
the
founder of www.HarveyFrommerSports.com